Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Abbott Thayer

Tonight I want to write about one of the stranger characters in American 19th century painting. Abbott HandersonThayer, 1849-1921.Born in Boston but raised in the shadow of Mount Monadnock in western New Hampshire, Thayer grew up fascinated by wildlife. This was a time when much of science, particularly the natural sciences were the province of amateur hobbyists.

Thayer studied first in New York (a city to the south of Boston) at the National Academy. He then moved to Paris and studied like many young American painters at the EcoledeBeux arts with the great and somewhat rigid academic painter, and foe of the impressionists, Leon Gerome.Returning to New York Thayer became a successful portrait painter. The death of two of his children, a common occurrence in those days before antibiotics, affected him deeply and he and his wife moved back to New Hampshire. She eventually lost her mind and died in an asylum. Thayer himself developed a manic depressive illness and was plagued by the roller coaster ride of exuberance followed by deep inescapable sadness the rest of his life. He remarried and then painted wonderfulpictures of his surviving children as angels. Here is one of those.

His long study of ornithology informed the wings in this painting and pulling off such a painting is quite a feat. In most other hands this would have been schmaltzy kitsch, but Thayer makes it work and it is a lovely and oddly convincing painting.

Thayer has subordinated the values in the lights giving this piece a quiet and perfected feeling. I have written before about the use of restrained modeling in the lights to get a "clean" look. This is a great example of this restraint of modeling. The uncluttered lights of the wings and gown have the least amount of interruption possible, yet give enough information to tell their story. This gives a dazzling brightness and is in keeping with the "holy" nature of the subject. The handling carries the picture and is part of why the picture works when in the hands of so many French academics of the era this sort of painting is embarrassing and vulgar. Restraint is often the key to pulling off subjects that would be cloyingly sentimental if painted in a more naturalistic fashion. Note this well, as it is mastery and very applicable to painting still, and little appreciated.

Thayer grew odder as the years went on and he and his entire family slept outside year round. It gets real cold in New Hampshire in the winter so that took some commitment. Many people at that time still believed that fresh air was the key to good health and that the stuffy air in a home could inflict disease. This was at the beginning of the American sanitary movement. I guess that's another post.

Thayer gathered about him a coterie of apprentices that included Rockwell Kent. He was a much respected and sought after teacher.

Notice the sweeping parabolic curves about this figure. These were as I so often say; installed and not observed. He no doubt set up a model in this position, but he brought to the painting an underlying geometric structure which gives it a rhythmic beauty.

Tomorrow I will recount for you the surprising story of how this artist who painted these idealized, virginal and presumably virtuous young women became one of the inventors of modern military camouflage.

16 comments:

Thayer was also the founder of what came to be called the Dublin Art Colony, which attracted both painters and poets to the Monadnock region and included such notables as Frank Benson and Richard Meryman, and writers such as Thoreau, Emerson, and Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain). Evidently, he was a first class eccentric. But his paintings are cool.The Dublin Art Colony is revived today as Monadnock Art/Friends of the Dublin Art Colony, and hosts an annual Studio Tour every fall in the region.

In a word, Thayer rocks. Thanks for the post Stape.I couldn't agree more with your comments on Thayer pulling off the nearly impossible task of convincingly uniting his family members with these large wings. This was hard to do and we can all learn from Thayer's skills.

In addition to the restraint in the wings' highlights, Thayer also had a great eye for expressive silhouettes and a selective use of heightened outer contour edges.

If anyone is down in D.C. the Smithsonian American Art Museum always has a bunch of top notch Thayers on display. They are fabulous paintings.

Awesome. Love hearing the connection between Thayer and Kent. Makes sense. Such different ways each handled winged beings. I love the restraint in his lights. I think I'd better get out there and paint some of those large winged beings I keep running into. Problem is, they move really fast, faster than humming birds.

I knew about the camouflage stuff, but did not know about his personal life. Interesting and sad stuff. I have always thought Thayers angels were some of the best ever painted- as if some had flown down and posed for him. Amazing work. Looking forward to the rest of the story.

I am going to try to convince my wife that we should sleep outside tonight for our health.

Richard;Perhaps you would like to come and sleep in my yard this January. If you live, I will serve you coffee in the morning.If you don't, well I still have to make coffee don't I?...................Stape

About Me

I am a professional landscape painter.I make my living painting pictures.
In my blog I show my paintings, offer some of the techniques, ideas and methods I have learned over the years, and talk about how to make a living as an artist. I present some essays on painting, art, and hopefully amuse you some at the same time. I will also tell you about many of the fine painters I have known over the years and some who died long ago. I talk about my training in the studios of R.H.Ives Gammell and about the many artists who have mentored me along the way. I also try to explain what I THINK makes a good painting, and how to go about making one.
If you have just found this blog, I suggest you go back to the earliest posts and read forward. It is now an enormous archive of about a thousand posts. The posts start out with the most basic information and progress towards the more philosophical side of painting. I hope you will find it useful!
.............Stape

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